Your Place in this World: Are You Grateful For It?

I took these pictures in the fall of 2010 while working on a photo shoot in Calabasas, California. There were a few famous models being featured and about twenty five people in total between production staff and set crew. It was incredibly windy and we were vigilantly monitored by forestry officials to ensure that no fire hazards were left unattended--obviously, for good reason.

In the midst of the organized chaos that most photo shoots tend to be, this old leather chair--a set prop--commanded my attention more than anything else. The chair itself was beautiful and its positioning in the field with the rolling hills and mountains in the background was perfect.

It was a brilliant visual metaphor in so many ways. The image was almost prophetic. There were even moments when, between gusts of wind, I could almost hear it speaking to me. It was all very serendipitous as I was, at the time, longing for a sense of direction and feeling very small.

That chair mirrored how I felt about my place in this world. Instead of making strides to accomplish lofty goals, I was just present, doing what I had to do to get by because I had no other options. I was disappointed all the time and, in a way, things came to a head when I saw that chair: undeniably beautiful but sad. Then something magical happened.

One of the forestry officers was very kind and he and I spoke between takes. Gazing out across the landscape he whispered as if talking to himself, "Nothing here but dirt and dried grass, but I love this place."

At that moment I realized that nothing good would ever come to me until I learned to be grateful for my place in this world from moment to moment. No matter how hopeless or disillusioned I might become, if I wasn't grateful for simply having space to occupy and breath in my lungs, my ambitions would remain nothing but ideas. I would be left to sit in my metaphorical chair looking at all the opportunity around me, unable to grasp any of it because I wasn't grateful for where I was currently sitting.

You have a place in this world. Like everything else, that place will evolve over time. But it will either become an ever-confining cell or an expanse larger than you could have ever possibly imagined. What you are grateful for will determine this.

Something to be Grateful for: Purpose

My mother said to me, "If you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up as the Pope." Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. - Pablo Picasso


When I was a child, I remember my teacher going around the classroom and asking all of us what we wanted to be when we grew up. I didn't know then, didn't know when I graduated college and, today, I'm still unsure. I have known plenty of people who simply followed in their parent's footsteps or seemingly fell into what would prove to be fulfilling, life long careers, but life showed me no such favor.

Or, perhaps, it did?

I now look back on my slew of recent-graduate jobs that demanded the world and paid me Road Island and I am able see a gradual push--or rather, influence, if you will--that has lead me closer and closer to feeling a sense of purpose with each hiring and, in some cases, firing. My scope of professional ambition has actually become quite acute and I can tell you with absolute certainty what I don't want to do, but I still question what it is I am meant to do.

Perhaps our purpose in life is not meant to be questioned but, instead, just felt. What feels like it was meant to be?

This could apply to anything and could happen anytime over the course of one's life. Some people want nothing else than to be a farmer, or a stock broker, or an artist or even a parent. And there are plenty of people who, due to circumstances, are never afforded the opportunity to feel a sincere sense of purpose and are resigned to do the best they can but, ultimately, just exist. Then there are people whose sense of purpose evolves and perhaps even changes many times over the course of their lives.

You regularly hear from exceptionally passionate people that they believe they were placed on this earth to do whatever it is they do. I don't know if I completely buy into their boldness, but I do enjoy the idea of doing something with an unrivaled passion that can't be fully articulated, only felt and understood by those who have shared the same feeling.

Pablo Picasso's mother believed that he could have been the greatest at anything he put his mind to, but thankfully for us, he discovered his passion for painting.

I believe that part of being a good person is never giving up on discovering what gives you a sense of purpose. It just makes sense that when this purpose is realized, we are intrinsically ever closer to being the best people we can possibly be and thus, purpose, is something to be incredibly grateful for.

I cannot say that I have realized my own sense of purpose, but I feel that I am close. And it feels very good.